1. Field of the Disclosure
The present disclosure relates generally to industrial facilities and, more particularly, to monitoring of machine parameters in industrial facilities.
2. Description of the Related Art
Industrial facilities, such as manufacturing facilities, laboratories, research facilities, refineries, other structures, and the like, often use sensors to monitor machine parameters. For example sensors may be used to measure machine parameters such as vibration, acceleration, velocity, sound, electric field, speed, torque, displacement, and the like. Each sensor produces an analog output voltage, current, or digital representation of the machine parameter being measured. In many cases, a field unit samples the signal output by the sensor and transmits data representing the sampled signal over a wireless network to a base unit. Often times the field units are battery powered and have limited bandwidth for transmitting the signals produced by the sensors monitoring the machine parameters. Consequently, transmission of the data representing the sampled sensor signals often taxes the wireless network and limits the operational time of the field units on a given battery charge, resulting in delays, transmission errors, field unit failures, frequent battery replacement, inefficiencies, greater expense, and safety concerns.